


Too Good to be True

by Hermione1607



Category: The School for Good and Evil - Soman Chainani
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24282748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermione1607/pseuds/Hermione1607
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3
Collections: SGE Fandom Big Bang





	Too Good to be True

“Mom, why do I have to go to this stupid school? I want to stay here in Camelot with you and Abuela.”  
“Sami, dear, you- you have to go, okay?”  
Sami wrinkled his nose at his mother. “Is this just because you don’t want Abuela to have to take care of me anymore when you’re out at work? I can take care of myself, it’s really not a problem-”  
His mother straightened up. “Samuel Harris, no more of this silliness. We’ve had this discussion before. The School for Good is where your fairy tale will start. It’s what’s best for you.”  
Sami followed along with her words in his head, having asked this question and received this answer many times before.  
His mom called into the house, “We’re going to be off now, Mama! Come say goodbye to Sami!”  
Almost as if she’d been eavesdropping by the door, Sami’s Abuela responded, “Yes, Luna dear,” and hobbled out of the house, her long silver-grey hair piled atop her head.  
His Abuela pulled him in for a hug, and he inhaled her warm baked bread smell while squeezing her tighter and trying not to let the prickle of tears ruin the moment. She whispered in his ear, “You’ll do great, Mijo.”  
The old woman pulled away, holding his shoulders, and nodded. She squeezed his shoulders once more before releasing him.  
Sami’s eyes watered, and he blinked so as not to miss a second. “Goodbye Abuela.”  
“Bye Sami,” she said softly. Her blue eyes, the same as Sami’s, twinkled excitedly.  
Sami turned to walk beside his mother as they took the familiar path away from their home, not looking back.

Sami opened his eyes to find himself in front of a gorgeous, glittering castle. The plaque read ‘SCHOOL FOR GOOD’ and had a white swan on either side.  
He was standing up, which was rather odd, and what was even more odd is that he remembered nothing about how he got from his home to his new school.  
Sami turned around in a full circle and stopped when he saw the figure behind him, wearing a simple dark green gown.  
She raised her head, limp brown hair revealing a face of worn lines, accentuated by the smile she was currently giving him. “Hello, Samuel, sweetie,” she cooed.  
“Uh, sorry- who are you?” Sami said bluntly.  
The smile quickly dropped off the old woman’s face. “Oh dear, do I really look that horrible?”  
Sami was sweating. Within the first few minutes of arrival, he had no idea what was going on, and he’d insulted an old woman. Yep, this was going to be fun.  
The woman continued. “My name is Maisie. I’m part of the school staff, and if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your dorm, where you’ll find that your luggage has been placed. You and your roommates will be staying there for your first three years at the School for Good.”  
Sami nodded and then paused. “Look, I’m sorry I insulted you, Maisie. And, um, I have a question.”  
Maisie nodded. “Of course, dear.”  
“Why am I in the School for Good?”  
“Well, everyone in the Woods has heard of the School for Good and Evil. And of course, you know that the School for Good is where young children learn-”  
Sami shook his head, long hair falling over his eyes. “I meant, why am I in Good?”  
Maisie seemed somewhat flustered and anxious when she replied, “Students of Good are pure of heart and have good intentions. If the Dean accepted you, you must have these qualities. This school will teach you how to harness them.”  
Sami raised his eyebrows.  
“Now no more silly questions, we must-”  
“You’re lying. Aren’t you?”  
Maisie shook her head. “No, Sami, of course not.”  
“I can tell you’re lying,” Sami announced.  
Maisie turned around, ending the conversation. “Follow me. We’re heading to your dorm now.”  
Sami stuck close to the Good staff member as her heels clicked up the stairs into the shimmering castle. As they traversed stairs and hallways, Sami passed girls with shimmering pastel gowns and perfectly coiffed hair, chatting in small groups and boys with embroidered colourful jackets, beige breeches, and tall dark boots. They ignored Sami. He didn’t understand why, until he looked down at his denim jacket, black pants, and scuffed grey sneakers. He cringed.  
Sami followed Maisie through an archway labelled ‘HONOR TOWER’. Sami had been admiring the wall decor when Maisie suddenly stopped, and he nearly crashed into her. “Honor Tower, room 78. Your bags are in your room, and you’re expected at the Welcoming in,” she checked her watch, “thirty minutes. Bye now, Samuel.”  
He nodded. “Thanks, Maisie. See you around.”  
He heard the click of her heels becoming quieter, and then he was alone outside the room.

Sami took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. Stepping into the room and closing the door, he instantly locked eyes with a boy with messy dark hair, dark eyes, and a football tucked under his arm. Glancing away, he spotted another boy in a tidy outfit and slicked back ginger hair. The conversation stopped, and the two turned toothy grins on the newcomer.  
The dark-haired boy put down the football and took three quick strides toward Sami. He stuck out his hand and said, “Hey. I’m Elijah, nice to meet you. This is Andre.”  
Sami shook his hand, which had a firm grip. “I’m Sami. It’s, uh, good to meet you too,” he said, flicking his hair over his face to avoid meeting Elijah’s dark eyes.  
Andre looked him up and down, his smile widening. “You must have gotten some funny looks on the way in.”  
Sami paused, taken aback. “Maybe I should, y’know, get changed. Excuse me.” He snatched his uniform off the bed and bolted into the changing room.  
He quickly shimmied out of his old clothes, folding them neatly, and pulled on the Good uniform, leaving his tie untied. He paused, and put his ear to the flimsy wooden door. He couldn’t help himself.   
Andre and Elijah were discussing their classes. Feeling better about himself, Sami opened the door and stuffed his old clothes in his suitcase.  
“Hey Sami, I’m sorry I offended you, I know I can be a bit blunt. Can you forgive me?” Andre said immediately.  
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Sami said honestly. “Sometimes blunt is good,” he added with a smile.  
“Thank you. So, what’s your first class?” asked Andre.  
“Uh, I’ll check my schedule,” he replied, grabbing the paper off his bags that read ‘SAMUEL OF CAMELOT’ and scanning it quickly. “I’ve got History of Heroes with Professor Hort.”  
“Aw, come on!” Andre moaned dramatically while Elijah fist pumped.  
“Huh?”  
“I’m in your first class!” Elijah informed him. “This’ll be fun! If we get a project, wanna be partners?”  
Sami furrowed his brow. “A project? On the first day?”  
Elijah shrugged. “Professor Hort is a new teacher, so no one knows what his classes are like.”  
“And I’m all alone in Swordplay,” lamented Andre. Then he perked up. “If there are any cute girls in your class, you gotta let me know. Swordplay is all guys, and I’m not into them like… that.”  
Sami nodded while Elijah winked and said, “Consider it done.”

The two arrived at the classroom to find that the only two seats left were in the front, next to a girl with short, curly, caramel coloured hair. She seemed studious, having her textbook open on her desk already.  
Elijah seemed to know her, calling, “Hey Edie!” in her direction.  
Sami wondered if she was Elijah’s girlfriend. Then he wondered why he cared.  
Elijah turned to Sami. “She’s my twin sister.”  
Sami nodded. Now that he thought about it, they certainly looked alike.  
Arriving at the first of the empty seats, Elijah plopped himself down next to the girl.  
“Hey Elijah,” she greeted him.  
Sami was still standing awkwardly, and the girl stood up to shake his hand. “Hi, I’m Eden. It’s nice to meet you.”  
“Uh, you too. My name’s Sami, I’m Elijah’s roommate.” Her infectious smile had Sami grinning as well.  
“Please be seated, class,” came a nasally voice from the front of the room. Sami glanced up to see a pale man standing tall behind the desk- and eyeing him, Elijah, and Eden.  
“When did he come in?” whispered Eden in Sami’s ear as they sat down quickly.  
“I was thinking the same thing,” whispered Sami, grabbing his history book from his schoolbag and placing it on the desk.  
“Hey class, I’m Professor Hort, your teacher for History of Heroes. Today we will be starting with a recent story most of you have heard of- The Tale of Sophie and Agatha. Open your books to page 195…”  
Professor Hort’s droning voice nearly put him to sleep.

Sami left the final class of the day quickly, only one thing on his mind. Heading straight to Dean Dovey’s office, he barged in. The dean was sitting behind her mahogany desk.  
“Samuel Harris. Welcome. How are you finding the School for Good?” greeted the dean. She seemed a bit distracted, scratching away with her quill.  
“I have a question for you. Why am I in the School for Good?” He paused, then elaborated, “I saw the way the other students looked at me. I’m not a handsome prince, just… average.”  
She looked up. “That’s not important, Samuel. What is important is that you have a good heart.”  
Sami raised his eyebrows. “This has something to do with who my dad is, doesn’t it?”  
The elderly woman paused, placing her quill next to the parchment paper, and slowly stood up. She walked over to the window, seeming to be in thought as she gazed over the moat, and then turned to Sami without meeting his eyes.  
“Who is he,” demanded Sami, his anger flaring as he was ignored. “And why is all the staff at this school treading so carefully around me?”  
“He died a long time ago,” the dean hedged.  
“Tell me now. Or I’ll unleash my magic and destroy your office,” Sami said, an unfamiliar cold numbness creeping through his veins.  
“Samuel, his identity isn’t relevant to you. Furthermore, your fingerglow hasn’t-”  
Sami raised his index finger, which was glowing black, and one by one, all the pumpkin paperweights on her desk were shattered. A purple shield materialized around the dean as the orange shards shattered the window and impaled the walls and ceiling. Sami was unharmed.  
The dean murmured, “His power is stronger than we expected.”  
Sami uttered, “Tell me,” almost like he was possessed. It was completely unlike him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.  
Cautiously, the dean took a deep breath and said, “Your father was Rafal, the-”  
Sami blinked, the fire within him extinguishing. “F-former schoolmaster? I thought he was dead.”  
“His ghost has recently returned. Rafal is attempting to return to the world of the living, and he wants you to help him. Bringing you to the school was the best way to protect you, and he assumes that you’ll be in Evil, not Good.”  
Sami’s eyes flicked back and forth, trying to connect the dots.  
“Samuel, you have to be careful. Please don’t take risks- if you want the world to stay alive, Rafal cannot find you. Do you understand me?”  
Sami nodded instinctively, still in thought. He left the office and the door swung shut with a click. He shook his head to jar himself from his thoughts, his halo of white-blond hair falling messily.  
Honor Tower was on the other end of the castle, so he had time to think.

Sami’s second class of Surviving Fairy tales was certainly more interesting than yesterday’s. He’d spent all of the previous class ignoring the boring lecture from their leader, a tiny pixie with spiky cerulean hair and leathery skin in a deep shade of blue, about the rules of the Blue Forest and fingerglows, and instead wondering why all the staff had been acting so cagey around him.  
Group 3 consisted of Sami, Elijah, Eden, and assorted Ever and Never first-years. The pixie, whose name he couldn’t quite remember, announced with her bell-like voice, “Today, we will be unlocking your fingerglows.”  
The students whooped and high-fived, chatting excitedly about the first spell they were going to cast.  
As the chattering subsided, Carolinn - that’s what her name was! - said, “Remember that there are to be no unauthorized spells.”  
Plunging a silver key into each student’s index finger and turning the bone 180 degrees lit up their finger with a unique shade. Sami watched, fascinated and yet disturbed, as Elijah’s finger glowed a light blue, Eden’s glowed the same shade, and he was… skipped? Sami raised his hand. “Um, what about me?”  
Their leader paused, and said flatly, “The dean has informed me that your fingerglow doesn’t need to be unlocked.”  
ELijah turned to him, pouting.  
“Uh, what?”  
Eden frowned.  
“And you didn’t tell us?”  
“That would have been hilarious to watch the teachers try to figure out what happened!” Elijah said, a grin splitting his face.  
“Actually, it… wasn’t as funny as you think,” said Sami., recalling the disaster.  
Elijah pursed his lips. “I find that hard to believe.”  
Stonefaced, Sami said, “I exploded all of Dovey’s pumpkin paperweights.”  
The twins looked at each other and blinked. “Oh.”  
“I would have loved to see her face,” mused Elijah.  
“ ’lijah!! That’s awful!”  
He shrugged.  
They followed Carolinn as she fluttered through the forest, all the students’ fingerglows now unlocked. She was speaking, but her high-pitched voice didn’t quite reach the three stragglers.  
The bushes on his left rustled, and Sami paused and spun. He called to his friends.  
“Eden, Elijah, c’mere.”  
They turned around and backtracked to where Sami was staring at the sapphire bush.  
“Something’s not right here, I can feel it,” he mused.  
The twins looked at each other and shrugged.  
“I can’t.”  
“Me either.”  
Pushing the bushes aside, Sami nearly fell into the clearing. He looked up.  
The smoky grey ghost hovering in the centre met his son’s eyes with a widening smile.  
Sami stumbled back, turning to Eden and Elijah. “Guys, you have to go now! Tell Carolinn that it’s Rafal!”  
Eden said, “He’s dead. He can’t hurt us.”  
The ghostly school master floated slowly towards the trio.  
“He can, and he will. Get out of here.”  
“No,” declared the twins, in unison raising their blue fingerglows.  
Sami turned and found him face to face with his dead father, staring into his identical eyes. “Hello,” he uttered in a voice like gravel, “my son.”  
The twins balked, fingerglows flickering and then brightening again as their fear grew.  
Sami didn’t flinch, reminding himself that Rafal needed Sami’s help to return to life and wouldn’t dare hurt him.  
“Oh come on now, children, you shouldn’t worry about me,”   
Their fingerglows went out.  
“My magic isn’t strong enough to do anything drastic, but your weak fingerglows can’t withstand even my current power. With a physical body… I could be so much more,” he lamented. “Winning back Sophie as my Queen of the Woods requires a mortal host.”  
Sami put a hand behind his back and Elijah slipped a small dagger into his palm. “I won’t let you become mortal.  
Rafal laughed. “Do call me ‘father’, Samuel.”  
“I’ll never acknowledge you as my father!” Sami slashed the dagger through the misty grey spectre and with a shocked look, Rafal dissipated into the turquoise grass.  
Sami passed the dagger back to Elijah, the adrenaline fading and his knees becoming weak. Elijah stuffed the dagger back in his belt and slung an arm around Sami’s waist, turning to go through the bushes.  
Eden stayed where she was.  
“Eden?” prompted Elijah  
“Uh, he’s… back.”  
Samuel shrugged off Elijah’s arm and turned back to the clearing, heart beginning to race.  
Rafal was indeed there, and he was angry. “You think you can defeat a millennia-old sorcerer with a simple enchanted dagger? You’ll regret that, Samuel.” Then he grinned manically. “Or rather, your friend will.”  
Sami blinked, and in that second, the ghost vanished into Elijah’s chest.  
Eden yelled, “Elijah! No!”  
Elijah’s eyes flickered shut and he began to fall hard. Eden jumped to catch him, but he jerked back up like a puppet.  
The Everboy’s eyes snapped open revealing a cold icy blue that had replaced his usual coffee-coloured irises. He chuckled in Rafal’s harsh voice. “You wouldn’t hurt me and risk losing this one, would you?”  
Eden was in shock, her eyes flicking back and forth. “I can’t watch!” She fled through the bushes, leaving Samuel alone with his possessed friend.  
Rafal stepped towards Sami. “It seems you’ve been abandoned.”  
Sami’s eyes narrowed, a blast of black light shooting from his finger straight for Rafal’s head. It was enough warning, though, for Rafal to lift his hand and rebound the blast into Sami’s chest.  
He crumpled to the ground on his back, lungs unable to suck in air.  
“You are so much more like me than you realize, Samuel,” said Rafal. “Your appearance, yes, but your anger, your talent for hurting people… yes. You are truly my son.”  
Chest still constricted, Sami began to see double.  
Eden thunked her brother over the head and Rafal collapsed.  
Sami’s chest expanded as he sucked in cold air, once, twice, three times, until he could see the clear sky above him. Shakily standing, he staggered over to Eden and gave her a huge hug. “You saved us,” he rasped, and then coughed, stepping back from the hug.  
“I couldn’t just leave you guys,” she replied, kneeling next to Elijah. “Is he…”  
Sami gazed at his best friend sadly. “If Rafal is still there, we can’t take him back to the school. We have to wait until he wakes up or the ghost leaves his body.”  
Eden nodded and they sat next to each other in tense silence. The minutes stretched on and on.  
A thin wisp of smoke rose from Elijah’s forehead and Eden flinched, but it just drifted on the breeze and rose into the clouds, vanishing from view.  
Eden grabbed Elijah’s arms, shaking him and patting his face. “Elijah?”  
“Let’s get him back to school now,” Sami said gently.  
Together, they stood up, supporting him in their arms.  
They started their journey back up to the castle in silence. 

The sun was setting behind the castle, casting weak light over the courtyard. Sami looked at Eden nervously. “It looks like we were gone for at least two hours.”  
“We are going to be in so much trouble.”  
But as they entered the school, they could see neither students, nor teachers, nor fairies.  
“Where is everyone?” Eden whispered.  
“I- I’m not sure.”  
At that moment, a door opened out of nowhere and the Dean walked out. Eden let out a small yelp, and almost dropped Elijah.  
The Dean looked at each of them in turn, worry in her eyes. “What happened? The whole school has been sent to bed already.”  
Sami gave a humourless laugh. “About that, so, Rafal’s ghost found me.”  
The dean gasped and snapped her fingers. A group of fairies fluttered down the hallway and lifted Elijah from their tired arms.  
“They’ll take him to the infirmary. You two, come with me.”  
They followed her as she bustled down the hallway. Eden and Sami glanced at each other.  
“Are we in trouble?” Eden mouthed.  
“I don’t know,” Sami mouthed back.  
They arrived at a door, and the Dean pushed it open for the two students to go in. They entered fearfully, expecting a kitchen piled full of dirty dishes or a messy classroom in need of cleaning, but found… the cafeteria?  
“I’m sure you two are positively famished,” the Dean said kindly.  
Eden shook her head while Sami nodded vigorously.  
The Dean sat the two friends at a table in the middle of the room and with a flick of her wand, conjured a plate of hazelnut hot cross buns in front of Sami, and a hot cocoa for each of them.  
Eden took a tentative sip, then pushed it away. “I think I’ve lost my appetite since seeing my brother possessed,” she said quietly.  
The dean frowned, “Possessed?!” she exclaimed, then muttered, “we might need more hot cocoa. Please, explain what happened.”  
Sami swallowed his mouthful and placed his food on the plate in front of him, then told the dean everything that had happened in the forest. Afterwards, the dean sighed, and looked sadly at the two of them. “We’ll begin securing the schools, but for now, we just have to hope he’s gone for long enough. I’ll let you two go up to bed.”  
The two left the cafeteria, leaving the dean alone, and began to make their way to their dorms. “See you tomorrow I guess,” Sami said when they parted. Eden waved and wandered into her dorm.  
When Sami arrived at his room, he opened the door to see Andre standing in the centre of the room, bouncing a tennis ball off the walls as he asked Elijah a million questions.  
Sami ran and tackled Elijah in a hug, laughing. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”  
Elijah hugged him back, then pushed him away, “Sorry, I just… kind of hurt my head where my sister smacked me.”  
“Oh yeah,” Sami said awkwardly, “sorry.”  
“It’s fine, you two saved me.”  
“Heh, yeah I guess.” Sami frowned. “It’s still my fault, though.”  
Elijah looked at him, “Why would it be your fault?”  
“Because, he’s my dad, he was only after me, and you got hurt because of it.”  
Elijah frowned thoughtfully, then grinned. “Aw, don’t worry about it,” he messed up Sami’s platinum blond hair, “Just go to sleep.”  
Sami smiled weakly, too tired to argue more, and climbed into his own bed, passing out almost immediately as the weight of the day caught up to him.

Nighttime fell upon the castle, and all the students and faculty were asleep. Fairies and wolves patrolled the borders, and the school was silent.  
Except for a whisper of smoke, drifting through the halls. It stopped quickly, as if reading the sign on the door.  
Room 78  
The ghost floated through the door and over to a bed, where a blond haired boy lay, asleep, his knees tucked up to his chest.  
The ghost hovered over him, and cackled, the blond boy flinched and the ghost quieted again. “Oh, Samuel. I will soon turn your heart to Evil, and I’ll return to my Sophie and we shall command the woods once more.”  
The End


End file.
